Predictable but harmless, pretty funny if pretty cliched, THE GUILT TRIP is a lightweight comedy with a VERY funny movie about selling to grocery stores buried in it, something many of my friends will relate to very well!
Seth Rogan is Andy Brewster, an inventor with a unique product, a clever idea, zero selling skills and a horrible pitch.
Watching him get ignored and walked out on in the corporate buying offices at Kmart and several other major chains is spot on and very funny. It's going to look all to familiar to many of us in the industry!
On the verge of a major nationwide tour of pitch meetings, Andy decides to invite his mom Joyce (Barbra Streisand) along for the trip.
It's a classic set up for many comedy set pieces, some of which work and some of which fall miserably flat (a food eating contest? really).
Both Rogan and Streisand are great comic performers (remember how damn good she was in "What's Up, Doc?") and get a lot out of the material, but the Jewish doting mother bit gets a little long in the tooth. Some of the tone shifts are so sudden you feel like you missed a five minute scene to bridge the funny to serious and then back again.
There are some nice moments, some very funny lines and the best QVC appearance ever.
Light, fun, predictable but entertaining, we'll not feel guilty giving it a C. (Anyone that's ever sold to grocery/drug..it's a solid B for the Costco meeting alone!)
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